State Fairs Research Articles

"The Consummation of Rural Prosperity and Happiness": New England Agricultural Fairs and the Construction of Class and Gender, 1810-1860

“The Consummation of Rural Prosperity and Happiness”: New England Agricultural Fairs and the Construction of Class and Gender, 1810–1860 Catherine E. Kelly (bio) In 1902, William Dean Howells recounted a trip to a New England county fair for the readers of Harper’s. On the morning of the fair, “heavily laden special trains” converged “from every quarter, across the green fields and through the mantling woods,” transforming the small manufacturing town where the fair was held. But if the “air was electric with the holiday emotion,” the fair failed to live up to its promise, for it was dominated by spectacles and entertainments of the lowest sort. Fairgoers rallied at the trotting races, “which never had the picturesqueness of the running race.” They flocked to the Midway (“that perpetual and universal gift to the State and country fairs from the great Columbian Fair at Chicago”) to be entertained by “monsters, marvels, fortune tellers, [and] dancers.” The problem with these diversions was not simply that they were coarse, although Howells did take special offense at the “Egyptian” dancers who “wriggle[d] through obscene dances” across every midway in America. Instead, races and midways distracted men and women from exhibits of animals, produce, and domestic manufactures—exhibits that should have exercised a “superior claim upon the civilized spectator.” Howells walked through nearly deserted halls of fine fowl, sheep, and cattle; “more forsaken” still were the “exhibitors of agricultural implements, or fine arts, or rare fruits and vegetables, or [End Page 574] floral products or field crops.” Seduced by the excitement of the trotting race and the exoticism of the midway, spectators had abandoned the heart of the nineteenth-century American agricultural fair. Along the way, they had abandoned something essential about rural life itself. 1 It was neither nostalgia nor hyperbole that prompted Howells to imbue earlier fairs with the timeless traditions of America’s rural past. For those fairs, or cattle shows as they were called, had been carefully constructed to evoke a sense of tradition. Indeed, to read contemporary accounts of antebellum cattle shows is to take a lesson in what Eric Hobsbawm termed the “invention of tradition.” The New England agricultural societies that organized the shows may have been dedicated to scientific progress and agricultural improvements. But as public rituals, cattle shows were calculated to create a sense of continuity with the past. 2 Year after year, agricultural society officers and their townsmen congratulated themselves on their “noble” cattle and “superior” swine, on their “improving” speeches and uplifting sermons. The fairs varied from year to year and from county to county. Over time, they became more elaborate, including a growing number of spectacles and diversions. Still, when the Massachusetts Hampshire Gazette and Courier honored the forty-second anniversary of the “ancient” Tri-County Agricultural Society in 1860 by reprinting descriptions of its first two fairs, readers throughout New England would have recognized the fair’s structure as well as the language used to describe the fair. 3 The annual assemblies of oxen, cattle, and swine testified to the prosperity of the independent yeoman, while plowing matches evidenced his strength. And should the message be lost, orators, preachers, agricultural reformers, and journalists proclaimed his virtue. Obscuring the changes wrought by the development of rural capitalism, cattle shows and the discourses surrounding them helped construct a pastoral vision of the nineteenth-century yeoman and the New England village. 4 Yet exhibits of domestic manufactures, which played a central role in antebellum cattle shows, offered New Englanders a picture of rural society at odds with this vision. While animal exhibits, speeches, and sermons paid homage to the timeless truths of rural life, exhibits of domestic manufactures offered nagging evidence that those truths were not eternal. Before 1830, these exhibits emphasized textile production, evoking the gender roles and social relations that obtained in the household economy. But as rural households shifted their allegiance to [End Page 575] factory-produced cloth, and samples of homemade linen and wool dwindled in the fairs’ exhibition halls, New Englanders were forced to concede the erosion of domestic manufactures. They were forced, however reluctantly, to confront change in the midst of a ritual aimed at creating tradition...

Adapting a Nursery Production Budget to Containerized Specialty Vegetables

Production budgets for both field grown vegetables and ornamental crops, field and container grown, are fairly common. Container grown vegetables, other than transplants, are much less common and do not have specific budgets which would allow growers to set realistic prices for individual plants. A specialized budget was adapted from one developed for container nurseries. Specific production costs were taken from a budget for field grown vegetables. This process could be adapted for use with other specialty crops. It could be used for county or state fairs and other situations where individual vegetable plants need to be raised in containers.

Visitor Profile Analysis:

Although market research is utilized by many short-term tourism events, little research has been published on American state fairs. This demographic pilot study of South Carolina State Fair visitors identified the location and size of the primary market area. Also examined were the upscale nature of visitors and the importance of the fair as a family event. Based on this data, marketing implications for fair management were developed.

State names, seals, flags, and symbols: a historical guide

Hundreds of changes and additions to state symbols since the 1987 volume, four new chapters, and expanded coverage beyond the 50 states--including the District of Columbia and the five U.S. territories--make this revised edition essential for students and library reference collections. The only single documented source for historical information and color illustrations of all state and territory symbols includes new chapters on state and territory legal holidays and observances, automobile license plates, festivals and fairs, and selected U.S. postage stamps issued in honor of the states and territories. Color illustrations of official state and territory seals, flags, flowers, trees, birds, license plates, and postage stamps complement the text. This revised edition of the only single reference source for information about state symbols updates and doubles the coverage of the original 1987 volume. New chapters on state and territory fairs and festivals and legal holidays and observances offer not only essential information, but also fascinating sidelights and unusual facts about the states and territories that are a treasure trove of information for students. The work features chapters on official state and territory names and nicknames, mottoes, seals, flags, capitols, flowers, trees, birds, songs, legal holidays and observances, license plates, miscellaneous designations, and fairs and festivals. A bibliography and subject index complete the work.

Swine Influenza Surveillance, Wisconsin Agricultural Fairs, 1989 and 1990

To the Editor. —In 1988, investigation of a fatal case of swine influenza in a previously healthy 32-year-old pregnant woman provided strong evidence for transmission of swine influenza virus infection from ill pigs to humans during a Wisconsin agricultural fair, in which 40% to 60% of exhibited pigs had an influenza-like illness. 1 The results of this investigation led to prospective surveillance for ill pigs at Wisconsin agricultural fairs in 1989 and 1990 to assess the frequency with which visitors to these fairs might be exposed to outbreaks of symptomatic swine influenza. Between May 1976 and June 1977, a serosurvey of pigs from north central states slaughtered at abattoirs in Wisconsin showed that swine influenza virus infections of pigs are common and may have an October-through-December seasonality. 2 In 1989, veterinarians responsible for 32 county or state fairs held in the southern two thirds of Wisconsin between July and September

The Patrick Conway Military Band School, 1922–1929

Patrick Conway (1865–1929) was one of America's foremost bandleaders. His professional band was as famous as John Philip Sousas band, playing throughout the country for state fairs, expositions, and concert series. Conway's band also recorded for the Victor and Edison labels and, during the late 1920s, was a regular attraction on the General Motors Family Hour radio show. While the Conway Band enjoyed tremendous success during the 1910s and 1920s, other bands declined in popularity, possibly victims of competition from other forms of amusement like the automobile and phonograph. The incipient establishment of school bands created a great demand for trained band teachers and musicians, yet little formal education for band musicians existed. Realizing this state of affairs, Conway opened one of the first schools for the training of the band musician: the Conway Military Band School. This article traces the influences and environment that led Conway to establish this institution. Also included is a description of the school and its development during the seven years of its existence.

Theater of Guts: An Exploration of the Sideshow Aesthetic

Despite its title, Bradshaw's Circus of World Curiosities is only tangentially related to circus-it would more properly be called a ten-in-one; a sideshow in which ten acts perform for one low admission price. Shows like Bradshaw's have become a rarity in an amusement industry dominated by squeaky clean, multimillion dollar theme parks. These giant corporate concerns filled with thrill rides and costumed characters have no room for dangerous-to-emulate or morally questionable entertainment. Even at carnivals and state fairs ten-in-ones are getting harder and harder to find because they are not economically feasible. They require a full cast of performers who, unlike Ferris Wheels and Mobile Spook Rides, must be fed and housed. The Bradshaw show exists because it is produced by Coney Island, USA, a performing arts/historical organization supported in part by nonprofit subsidy from the National Endowment for the Arts, the New York State Council for the Arts, the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, and private and corporate foundations. The sideshow reaps some benefits from its affiliation with Coney Island, USA, even though very little grant money goes directly to it. Nearly $Ioo,ooo in grants allow Coney Island, USA to run its other programs-various plays, a parade, and a museum. In addition, Coney Island, USA provides a venue for the sideshow. If Bradshaw tried to operate the show without the help of Coney Island, USA, he would have to pay rent on the building for the whole year even though the show only runs during the summer. That would eat up enough of the profits to make the sideshow a losing proposition.

A Simple, Inexpensive Restraining Device for Small Animals

Traditional high school biology courses are being revised. In recent years, students have begun to explore exciting areas that relate to their everyday lives. Among the fields explored are animal and plant physiology as related to microorganisms and their effects (Paulinus 1960; Shankel and Arnold 1968; Peterson 1973). Experiments on these interactions are being added to the biology curriculum. High school students seem especially interested in projects that in volve working with microorganisms and studying their relationships to humans and animals. Many students are doing research projects, which often require a great deal of effort (Speece 1975), on this topic for state and regional science fairs. In many schools expensive equipment and supplies for experiments in microbiology are not available. We discovered a need for a restraining device for small laboratory animals for use in microbiology investigations. Restraining devices of all types can be purchased-from simple plastic tubes to sophisticated restrainers with latches and other features. Such devices range in price from $6.50 and up per restrainer. Even when restraining devices are available, both high school and college students have difficulty using them. The beginning student has problems placing animals into restrainers, and the animals often become very agitated. In addition, with 24 students per section in a laboratory, it becomes hard to justify the expense involved in buying a restrainer for each student so that s/he can be actively involved in an experiment rather than just watching.

The California State Fair in the Gilded Age

Research Article| April 01 1978 The California State Fair in the Gilded Age GERALD PRESCOTT GERALD PRESCOTT Search for other works by this author on: This Site PubMed Google Scholar Southern California Quarterly (1978) 60 (1): 17–27. https://doi.org/10.2307/41170745 Views Icon Views Article contents Figures & tables Video Audio Supplementary Data Peer Review Share Icon Share Facebook Twitter LinkedIn MailTo Tools Icon Tools Cite Icon Cite Search Site Citation GERALD PRESCOTT; The California State Fair in the Gilded Age. Southern California Quarterly 1 April 1978; 60 (1): 17–27. doi: https://doi.org/10.2307/41170745 Download citation file: Ris (Zotero) Reference Manager EasyBib Bookends Mendeley Papers EndNote RefWorks BibTex toolbar search Search Dropdown Menu toolbar search search input Search input auto suggest filter your search All ContentSouthern California Quarterly Search This content is only available via PDF. © Copyright 1978 The Historical Society of Southern California Article PDF first page preview Close Modal You do not currently have access to this content.

On to Dallas for Science Fair!

0 ALL PREVIOUS records will become obsolete when the 17th International Science Fair opens in Dallas, Texas, on May 11. The Fair itself will be the largest in history with more nationwide, state and regional fairs participating. More finalists than ever before, all of them high school students in the 10th, 1 1th or 12th grade, will be competing for international honors awarded by the ISF, Federal agencies and professional organizations. A record number of judges is expected to study the finalists' projects, discuss their work with the hopeful young pre-scientists and argue the relative merits of projects within each field of science. There will be more awards for outstanding exhibitors to take home and more recognition to open doors of opportunity into laboratories, universities, summer jobs and eventual careers. It is a safe prediction, based on previous fairs, that the science projects will reflect greater sophistication and that the finalists will be even more impressively informed about new research and current hunches of professional scientists.

Use of Ratings in the Evaluation of Exhibits

THE evaluation of exhibits in health education becomes increasingly essential as public health workers make more frequent use of that medium. At almost all state or county fairs, conventions, or other large gatherings there will be found one or more health exhibits, many of which are complicated and expensive. Despite increased interest in using exhibits, there is little objective evidence concerning their effectiveness. Generally the sole evaluation of an exhibit before it is put on display is the judgment of the exhibitor and his associates. Are such ratings dependable, and can large expenditures for exhibits be justified on subjective opinions? That the validity of ratings may be open to some doubt is suggested by previous studies of ratings on the quality of drawings, English compositions, and handwriting. As early as 1910 Thorndike asked 30 judges to rate 37 specimens of handwriting for quality.' In rating one of the specimens, one judge stated that the writing was of the highest quality; 5 stated it was of the poorest; and the ratings by the other 24 judges were distributed throughout the range between best and poorest. Later, Thorndike,2 Cohen,3 and others showed similar variations in ratings of drawings, and Hillegas 4 demonstrated that ratings are unreliable measures of quality in English composition. Although as a result of such, studies those in educational measurement no longer use ratings as a means of evaluating educational materials or products, constructors of health exhibits haye seldom utilized any other measure of effectiveness. For that reason it has seemed advisable to investigate exhibit ratings to ascertain whether such evaluations are reliable; and the New York World's Fair presented an excellent opportunity for that investigation. Grouped in the Medicine and Public Health Building were many exhibits prepared by many health workers, with extremely diverse ideas as to effective exhibit technic, including all sorts of combinations of movement, color, and arrangement. Twenty-six major ones were selected for study. In evaluating, two questions were posed: Could professional workers agree on the most effective exhibits in the group? Could they also agree in selecting the least effective displays?

Agricultural Societies. State Fairs. Liability to Visitor Injured by Aeroplane

Agricultural Societies. State Fairs. Liability to Visitor Injured by Aeroplane

The Makeup and Value of Exhibits at State and County Fairs

The Makeup and Value of Exhibits at State and County Fairs